DeNile
by thecivilunrest
Summary: "De-Nile isn't just a river in Egypt Katie." "OH YEAH? You want to know what else isn't a river in Egypt?" "What?" Think fast Katie, think fast! "Your face!" Travis/Katie


**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. That belongs to Mr. Riordan. Thanks for letting me borrow them! **

**This is dedicated to CapN'Cake for getting me to really like this pairing and for kinda sorta being the inspiration for this fic. Thanks! **

_De-Nile_

Travis Stoll is the most irritating, most aggravating, most _idiotic _boy in all of Camp Half Blood, I swear to the gods. He's even worse than his brother Conner, because at least Conner can be decent. Travis, however, can't be. And I hate him.

There, I admitted it, I hate Travis Stoll. And I'm pretty sure that the feeling is mutual, even though I'm not really sure. But it doesn't matter. Because I hate him, even if he didn't hate me I would still hate him.

I mean, yeah, okay, sometimes he can be really nice and when Jordan broke up with me and when he found me crying he gave me a Twix bar that he stole (Twix are my favorite kind of candy straight up) and told me that he was sorry about Jordan. We had a truce then, for the rest of the day.

But then I was right back to hating him because he had 'accidently' sent a fire cracker towards my cabin! Accidently my ass! He _knows _our roof is made of grass. That's probably why he and his brother put _Easter bunnies _on our roof! He had told me wanted to give the younger kids a chance to go Easter egg hunting or something. I don't really know. I had slapped him before he had finished.

So needless to say, I loathe him and everything he stands for, which is probably why when he came and sat down next to me on the Demeter cabin's porch I had gotten up and was about to walk away when he said, "Hey, wait a second. Can we talk?"

Needless to say I was shocked. "Excuse me?" I asked, putting a hand on my hip. If he was about to, like, steal the grass on our roof to build a nest or something (He had done this the month before, thinking that he was so funny. I bet it wasn't funny when I made his bed grow burning grass all over him the next morning, was it?) I wasn't going to have any of it.

"Can we talk? You know, converse?" Travis patted the empty spot next to him and I suspiciously went and slid next to him. He smelled really good, like Dial soap and fresh grass.

Ugh, did I really just notice how he smelled? Double ugh. Now I need to go smell some flowers or something. "Ooh, big word, Travis," I retorted, trying to clear the scent out my nose. It didn't work.

"I know right?" he grinned at me.

We sat in silence for a second and we could hear some of the other kids yelling about gods know what on the other side of the cabins. We were alone, which was weird. Did Travis pay all of the kids to leave for a while? That was a strange thought. Travis would totally do it, though.

"So what did we need to talk about?" I asked, wondering what was going on. I could already tell that this wasn't one of those normal, "I need to talk to you because I haven't made fun of you all day," sort of talks that we usually had.

"Hmm?" he turned to me. He looked a bit distracted, like he was thinking about something.

Travis? Thinking? Something is wrong in this picture.

"I said what did you need to talk to me about?"

"Oh, yeah, that. Well, I was wondering…" Travis looked nervous now. He scratched the back of his neck and looked away from me.

Okay, Travis Stoll, nervous? Now I was alarmed. Travis never got nervous around me. Never! Granted, that might be because most of the time I'm way too busy yelling at him and he's too busy laughing for anything like that to happen, but still. Nervousness is not a normal Travis emotion.

"Well, uh, jeez, this sounded a lot easier in my head. I mean my gods!"

"Spit it out, ding bat!" I shouted. I was getting fed up, and fast. If he made me miss dinner I was going to kill him.

"Okay, Katie, you like me, right?"

Instantly I was affronted. I did not _like _him! I hated him! He set fire to my cabin how many times now? "Hold up, I do _not _like you. I put up with you sometimes, sure, but I don't like you!" And I didn't. It didn't matter how amazing his hair looked all the time, all wavy and shiny. It also didn't matter how many times I had thought about running my hands through that said hair. I DID NOT LIKE TRAVIS STOLL!

"Sure Katie. De-Nile isn't just a river in Egypt you know. I know you like me, because…"

I didn't let him finish. "OH YEAH? You want to know what else isn't just a river in Egypt?"

Oh gods, what a lame comeback. Now it really looked like I was getting defensive. Travis stopped talking, amusement glittering in his eyes. And no, I did not notice that his eyes were glittering because I liked him. I noticed because, uh, they were reflecting light and how was I supposed to _not _notice that? I don't think Apollo would appreciate it very much if I ignored his symbol. Or something. Yeah, that's totally it.

Think fast Katie, think fast! "Your face!"

Great. You just totally blew that one, Katie darling.

Travis smiled at me, thoroughly amused. "_Anyway, _like I was saying I know that you like me because," he paused and I was glowering waiting for his reasoning. I bet they were stupid, just like everything else about him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "Because I like you."

"_You_ _like me?_" I croaked. Yeah, totally didn't see that one coming. Knock me over with a feather, you could have. Oh great, now I sound like Yoda. I really need to go lie down and get away from this really cute guy with wavy hair…

"Yeah, I like you. Duh, Katie. Why else do you think that only the Demeter cabin has gotten pranked lately?"

"Because you're a sadist and like me hitting you?" I couldn't help but ask.

He laughed. "No. Even though you can punish me anytime you want." He wiggled his eyebrows and my face flushed bright red. Way to go for the sexual connotations before the first date Travis. Wait, did that mean that there was going to _be _first date? Oh gods. I should have known something like this was going to happen. I should have even come.

"Okay, yeah. Well, I've got to go to dinner," I said lamely. I was really dying inside. Why was this affecting me so much? Because I liked him? Really truly liked him in that bleeding heart fashion? Never. I hated him.

Sort of.

I turned away and Travis grabbed my wrist. I tried to pretend that where he was touching me wasn't tingling. It wasn't working.

"I know," he told me, looking me in the eyes. _Melt._ I was mush.

I hated that he could do that to me.

"That's why I packed us a picnic. Will you join me?"

"You can cook?" It was the only thing that I could think to say. Cut me a little slack.

"No, I stole, I mean,_ borrowed _some stuff from the kitchen. You don't mind, do you?"

I was going to regret the answer that was going to come out of my mouth, but I was going to say it anyway. "Sure. I guess. But don't take this as a sign that I like you or anything Travis. Because I totally don't." Shut up mouth! Shut it, shut it, shut it!

"Of course you don't," he told me, and put his arm around my shoulders as we walked towards the beach.


End file.
